History of Phoenicia eBook

unequalled beauty, must at any rate have seen that
here was one of earth’s most productive gardens—­emphatically
a “good land,” that might well content
whosoever should be so fortunate as to possess it.
There is nothing equal to it in Western Asia.
The Damascene oasis, the lower valley of the Orontes,
the Ghor or Jordan plain, the woods of Bashan, and
the downs of Moab are fertile and attractive regions;
but they are comparatively narrow tracts and present
little variety; each is fitted mainly for one kind
of growth, one class of products. Phoenicia,
in its long extent from Mount Casius to Joppa, and
in its combination of low alluvial plain, rich valley,
sunny slopes and hills, virgin forests, and high mountain
pasturage, has soils and situations suited for productions
of all manner of kinds, and for every growth, from
that of the lowliest herb to that of the most gigantic
tree. In the next section an account of its probable
products in ancient times will be given; for the present
it is enough to note that Western Asia contained no
region more favoured or more fitted by its general
position, its formation, and the character of its
soil, to become the home of an important nation.

CHAPTER II—­CLIMATE AND PRODUCTIONS

Climate of Phoenicia—­Varieties—­Climate
of the coast, in the south, in the north—­Climate
of the more elevated regions—­Vegetable
productions—­Principal trees—­Most
remarkable shrubs and fruit-trees—­Herbs,
flowers, and garden vegetables—­Zoology—­Land
animals—­Birds—­Marine and fresh-water
fish—­Principal shell-fish—­Minerals.

The long extent of the Phoenician coast, and the great
difference in the elevation of its various parts,
give it a great diversity of climate. Northern
Phoenicia is many degrees colder than southern; and
the difference is still more considerable between
the coast tracts and the more elevated portions of
the mountain regions. The greatest heat is experienced
in the plain of Sharon,[21] which is at once the most
southern portion of the country, and the part most
remote from any hills of sufficient elevation to exert
an important influence on the temperature. Neither
Carmel on the north, nor the hills of Samaria on the
east, produce any sensible effect on the climate of
the Sharon lowland. The heat in summer is intense,
and except along the river courses the tract is burnt
up, and becomes little more than an expanse of sand.
As a compensation, the cold in winter is very moderate.
Snow scarcely ever falls, and if there is frost it
is short-lived, and does not penetrate into the ground.[22]